Clownfish, Okinawa Japan

Okinawa, Japan is just east of Taiwan.  The flight from Tokyo is about three and half hours south.  Surrounding the island is a diverse group of smaller islands that are packed with coral and attracts ocean life from all over the pacific.  The East China Sea, the west coast of Okinawa, is where I did a lot my diving.  The area is covered in coral and in some locations the reef goes for miles.  I have seen hard and soft corals that were as big as cars in this area.  Clownfish are abundant but well hidden in rock coral formations.  You have to look but you will find some on almost every dive.  In this image the bubble coral helped the clownfish really pop. Bubble coral will retract at night and can sting if you touch it.  The bubble coral is very beautiful and look like little balloons.   It makes for a great background for a photo.  Sometimes you can see shrimp or crustaceans in this coral.  This time I had clownfish in one.  You have to be patient when taking photos of clownfish but you also have to be aware of not sitting there all day.  Time can slow down when you are trying to get a really good photo.  You don’t want the dive group to move on without you.   It is not a good feeling when you turn around and you see nothing but water, no divers!  You have to have dive partners that care for your well-being and want you to stay with them.  Diving with other photographers is best.  They usually want to take the same photos and you are diving at the same pace as them.